Coming out to mother
by wilmot
Summary: Set about 4 months after 4x13 Gail and Holly have been living together for three months. Gail and Holly face the greatest hurdle to date: Telling their respective parents.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Rookie Blue does not belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_A/N I love the Gail/Holly relationship. It has the potential to be what Rizzoli and Isles should be but isn't. This fic will probably be quite short. It is about coming out to your parents._

You can be out to all your friends and at work and to your sisters and brothers but if you're not out to your mother you're not out.

Funnily enough this thought was in Holly's mind, not Gail's, and Holly was thinking about both herself and Gail.

They had been going out for two months before Gail moved in. That was three months ago.

Gail had told all her friends about them. Well not quite told all of them, Andy found them kissing in an evidence locker and had told Sam. But Gail had told Dov, Chloe, Nick, Chris, Traci, and her brother by then, so that only left Oliver and Noelle. Oh and Frank of course.

Celery had solved the Oliver problem. She saw them together off duty in the street and being Celery she'd picked up the sex vibe immediately. She had sounded Oliver out. Invited Gail plus one to dinner with her and Oliver. As it turned out Oliver had already guessed most of it. Surprisingly, given they're completely different worldviews, Holly got on well with Celery.

Frank and Noelle had been told by Gail the day after Sam had been shot. She'd overheard him make some remark to Noelle about Gail holding hands with the cloak closet attendant from their wedding. So Gail had told them who this reallly was. Noelle had reacted warmly Frank less so. He'd also asked her about her parents. She asked him not to mention it to them. He hadn't.

For Holly too things had changed. Previously Holly had had two sets of people in her life. Set one were her friends, set two were women she had sex with. The intersection between these sets was empty. So there'd been no need to tell her parents. Meeting Gail had changed all that.

It had been a slow burn. There had been a spark at the first meeting at the crime scene. This smouldered on later in the lab. But for Holly the realisation that she cared, really cared, about Gail came when Gail was in danger, indeed it turned out she had been shot at. And Holly had made that lame excuse to see her... That had been a shock. She found that for the first time in her life she both cared about and fancied someone. And Gail had initiated a passion filled kiss. Holly felt that her heart had nearly escaped from her pericardium!

So when Gail had shaken her head at her the next day as she was about to head out with one of her colleagues in hospital and another missing. That was definitely a downer. But then Holly reminded herself that this was very new for Gail and she was being watched by most of her fellow officers. Then the call from Gail warning her that Gail was about to go and try to rescue Oliver. The call later from the hospital had been both a cause of anxiety and relief. Three officers now in hospital beds but none of them was Gail.

Holly had simply handed everything off and ran. When she got to the hospital.. That hug! Then being introduced to Gail's brother Steve and colleague Chris. Then Gail held her hand while they waited for news...

After that the fuse got to its end and the bomb that was their relationship exploded. There was the sex of course. That was great. But Having got through the heavy defences built out of top quality materials to the soft inner core of Gail Peck. That was the big unexpected bonus. She doubted if Gail had let even her family see that. She felt both incredibly trusted and incredibly privileged.

But neither of them was out to their mothers.

Holly's parents lived in Vancouver and were a little estranged as they were deeply Christian and that made them slightly opposed to Holly's choice of career and belief in science. This also meant they were less likely to hear it accidentally. Gail's were senior Police Officers in the same force as Gail. This meant they would almost certainly hear about what their daughter was up to sooner rather than later.

And Superintendent Elaine Peck had a fierce reputation.

And she kept trying to find a boyfriend for Gail.

So Gail had decided to talk to her mother alone.

And Holly was waiting for Gail to come home.

Holly jumped as her phone rang. It was Gail.

"They want to meet you. Now!" said Gail.

They had prepped for this, they had prepped for hours like they were going to court in a major case. They had even prepped for Gail being forced to have this conversation by speaker phone.

"OK where?"

"I'll text it to you."

"Bye babe see you soon."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Rookie Blue does not belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N Thanks for the reviews guys! Sorry about the initial formatting of the text, corrected now, this site and good formatting are not not friends! Oh and I've assumed that Canadians spell 'mum' the US way ("mom") not the British. **_

_Half An Hour Earlier._

Gail arrived at her parents house by cab. Steve was already there. She was glad of that, he had been a real rock in this.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Her mother answered. "Hello dear! Come in, what would you like to drink. Steve and Traci are already here. Go through."

"Mom, do you think for once we could just go sit down and I could just say what I have to say. It is important."

"Of course dear but are you sure you wouldn't like a drink first?"

"Yes I'm sure thank you!"

Elaine led Gail to what Elaine insisted on calling the drawing room.

After greeting the rest Gail sat. Her mouth opened.

Her mouth was dry. She wished she'd accepted that drink.

"I've asked to see you..."

"Yes dear we know you have." Her mother interrupted.

"For Christ sake Elaine let the girl say it!" said Bill.

"Thank you Dad. I have asked to see you to tell you that I have met someone..." Gail was again interrupted.

"Oh that is nice! Who is he!" Elaine was clapping.

"Mother!" Steve chimed in in support.

"Not a 'he'. A she!" Elaine's jaw dropped. "Her name is Holly and she's a forensic pathologist. I've been living with her for three months now."

Elaine's brain was already working out what this meant for her career. It could be good...

She clapped her hands "Good! We can all walk at the head of Toronto Pride next year two generations of Peck _inclusive_ policing!"

Of all the reactions Gail and Holly had prepped for, this was one they'd somehow overlooked.

Traci looked at Steve. "Is she being serious?!"

"Entirely, I think!" Steve whispered in reply.

"So get her on the phone and get her over here." Elaine ordered.

"Elaine!" Bill wasn't happy, this was not unusual.

"Mother!" Steve was trying to protect Gail.

"It's OK, we thought this might happen, that's why I arrived by cab..." said Gail as she got her phone out.

Twenty minutes later the doorbell rang. Gail got up.

"That'll be Holly I'll go get her."

"Nonsense. It's my house I'll go" but for once Elaine was too slow and Gail was in the hall determinedly heading for the front door.

"Elaine! Let the girl greet her friend!" Bill knew he was in for a row once all this was over so he didn't care about his wife's feelings at the moment.

Elaine was in the hall behind Gail as she opened the door and greeted Holly with a passionate kiss and hug.

Holly noticed Elaine and pulled away and coughed. Gail turned to see her mother open mouthed.

"Mom, this is Holly, my girlfriend." Gail calmly introduced them, standing close to Holly.

It took a second for Elaine to re-adjust.

"Holly, nice to meet you! Come through to the drawing room. What would you like to drink, white wine ok? And you Gail?" Elaine had recovered her snake-like slither.

"Nice to meet you too Mrs Peck.." Holly tried to be smooth.

"Elaine, please!"

"Nice to meet you Elaine. I bought a bottle of wine with me that I hope is acceptable." Holly handed the bottle which was wrapped in white tissue paper to Elaine.

Elaine unwrapped the bottle, looked at the label and smiled.

"Thank you Holly." She said.

"Which wine did you give her?" hissed Gail.

"The same one we had the first night I cooked for you." whispered Holly as she followed Gail into the room.

"Dad this is Holly." said Gail.

Bill extended a hand "Bill, nice to meet you Holly."

"Nice to meet you too Bill."

Elaine came back with two bottles of white wine and six glasses.

After she had poured the wine and handed out the glasses she said: "I think we should have a toast to Gail and Holly."

"Oh god she's overdoing it. Sorry about this." Gail whispered to Holly.

"No need to be sorry, I think it's nice." Holly whispered back.

Everyone else raised their glasses in toast.

"She seems to have recovered well." whispered Traci to Steve.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Steve whispered back.

They then went and ate the meal that had been prepared. Over the meal there were a barrage of questions about Holly's work. None about open cases of course, all the other people at the table knew better than to ask about those. Elaine seemed very impressed to hear that Holly had had articles published.

They were equally impressed by the wine Holly had brought. Gail knew they would be. Holly had bought two cases in France whilst at a conference and had them shipped back after she'd been out on a one night stand with a local wine journalist.

At the end of the evening Holly and Gail went back to their condo.

"That seemed to go well." said Holly.

"You don't know my mother – we won't find out how well it went for a few months. She might just be thinking this is a phase for me."

"Bit late for a phase."

"Yeah, but mom doesn't think of me as an adult."

"Neither does mine of me. I think it is pretty standard for moms."

"Probably." But there was something in Gail's voice that said she didn't see Superintendent Elaine Peck as a standard mom.

As they were both exhausted they went to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Rookie Blue does not belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N I really like Rookie Blue but are you really telling me that Canadian Cops don't swear? Not buying it.**_**_Also once again thank you so much for the follows, reviews, and favourites! _**

_Next morning 15 division._

Gail walked into the locker room, Traci was already there picking up her gun and badge.  
Gail started to undress to put on her uniform. Traci checked her gun, put it in its holster and waited for Gail to finish.

"That seemed to go well last night. And I really like Holly. And that bottle of wine she bought with her – heavenly." she said as they left the locker room.

"We won't know for a few months whether it went well or badly."

"Funnily enough Steve said the same. But before you came she asked when we are going to have kids! I've already got one. I've got a career I really like..."

"Mom has never asked me that, even when I was engaged to Nick!"

They walked into the briefing room together and sat down.

Frank started the briefing. There was an operation against an illegal arms dealer that patrols were to stay clear of. Traci was being transferred to Guns and Gangs for six months so a detective rotation had opened up. Anyone interested to apply by the end of the day.  
Gail was paired with Dov.

Dov drove. As they were patrolling a quiet street Gail's phone went. It was Holly.

"I've just finished writing up the PM I was working on, any chance of meeting for lunch?"

"Sorry, we're out on patrol. And I have an application to put in by the end of the day."

"Application for what?"

"Can't talk now. Wait! I've already let the cat out! I am applying for a detective rotation."

"Hey that's great. I'll see you later at home."

With that they cut the call.

"Do you want to head back to the station to put that application in?" Dov asked.

"Yeah."

"And maybe you could give Holly a ring and she could come over and help?"

"Yeah, good idea. You can put yours in too."

"I won't be applying this time. I owe you after all the support when Chloe got shot."

"Thanks."

Gail rang Holly who then made her way to the station.

When they got there Holly, Dov and Gail found a quiet room. They wrote the application between them.

Gail took the application to Frank Best.

"Gail, I gather you told your parents about Holly last night."

"How did you know?"

"Got a call from your father. Wandered why I hadn't told him. I said I respected my officers' confidences."

"Thank you sir."

"Not sure your mother will like it."

"Neither am I sir."

"OK that'll be all. Get back to Holly I am sure she's in the building somewhere!"

"Thank you sir"

With that Gail left.

Later Luke called in to see Frank to discuss the applications.

"Gail shows an impressive grasp of medical stuff." said Luke.

"Well she is going out with Dr. Lee. So maybe that is not surprising."

Luke's eyebrows hit the ceiling.

"Holly? Gail? Together?"

"Yes been going on for some months, Gail told her parents last night."

"What can they do?"

"Judging by the smile on Gail's face recently quite a lot."

"Fuck, I just lost a bet!"

"Who with."

"Jo Rosati: she bet me that Gail was gay. Her precise phrase was 'I've got more chance there.'!"

"Decent gaydar."

"Yes and she supports Gail's application by the way."

"Because she thinks she has a chance of get into Gail's underwear?"

Luke laughed. "Jo's straight! She thinks Gail's smart, gets results and is willing to get advice when she feels out of her depth. She's also willing to admit when she screws up. Which is not often. She's been in some tight situations and survived."

"True. How do you think she'll get on with Swarek."

"Something else I need to tell you: Swarek is being bounced out to another undercover op, McNally's going with him. They're going in as a couple with solid cover stories. Rosati wants to come back to 15."

"You sure Rosati's entirely straight?"

"Yep! I'm sure."

"OK, Gail it is then. But I'm going to need some more uniforms."

"Not my problem." _  
_

_Gail and Holly's condo about four weeks later._

Holly picked up the post. Looked at one envelope with a puzzled expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Gail was worried about the expression on her girlfriend's face.

"Nothing. It's just that the writing on the envelope looks like my mother's."

"Well open it!"

Holly did as she was ordered. She read the letter.

"Oh!" was all she could say at first.

Gail looked on patiently, not easy for her.

"They're coming to Toronto next week. They want to see me. But they're insisting I take six months off to go on this 'purity crusade'. Not happening. So not happening!"

Gail moved towards Holly and gave her an enormous hug. She then pulled back a little and held Holly's head with a hand on each side as she spoke.

"OK tell them no, tell them you can't leave me or your job. But whatever happens we face it together."

"That won't work. They'll sit outside my front door, follow me to work, get my work picketed. It's why I left Vancouver."

"OK what is the 'purity crusade'? And I'll look at the anti-stalking laws, see if we can stop them that way. I get advice from CMU and HCU."

"It is bunch of religious fundamentalists going around preaching abstinence only contraception – I think. And Gail, I know you're a cop and therefore your brain goes straight to law enforcement solutions, but I really don't want my parents arrested."

"OK come out to them, introduce me in uniform, armed. Holly we got passed my parents and they are scary!" Gail was really worried. She'd never seen Holly panic before. "If necessary I'll get the whole of 15 division over here to protect you!"

"But you aren't in uniform any more. You're a detective now."

"Oh fuck! OK I've still got my badge and gun. And I know you don't want them arrested but I think I should look into any activity they may be involved in." Holly's eyebrows went up

"What?! It is a legitimate cause for concern regarding possible threats to the LGBT community as a whole. Bring them into the Police Station and tell them there is someone you want them to meet."

"Seriously?"

"Yes! Introduce me as your lover in the middle of the Police Station. I don't want to arrest them but I think we may need to keep the threat of arrest on the table. And remember you aren't alone any more we face them together."

"OK! What did I do to deserve you?" Tears were streaming down Holly's face. Gail pulled her into another hug and held her tight.

"Funny, I wander that about you every time I look at you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Rookie Blue does not belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N I was going to make this really quick and get Holly's parents arrested but then I googled 'purity crusade' (a name I had made up) and found that I'd stumbled across a really interesting, if depressing, piece of American history.**_

Next Day, 15th Division.

Holly dropped Gail off.

Gail walked into the detectives office. To her relief Jo was already there.

"Jo, can I ask some advice on something personal?"

"So long as it isn't about lesbian sex, yes!"

"No not about lesbian sex, Holly and manage quite well in that department. You don't know what sex is until.. Oh god I am turning into Holly, using so many words! No! Holly's parents are coming to town. Religious fundamentalists. They want her to go on a 'Purity Crusade' with them for six months. Last time she refused was in Vancouver they picketed her workplace. Followed her around, sat outside her condo. Eventually she fled the city."

"OK, not nice. I take it they don't know about you?"

"No they don't. Is there any way I could make this a legitimate case? Should I contact CMU and HCU?"

"Well you need to find out what this 'Purity Crusade' is first. But if they behave in the way you describe outside the morgue they will be arrested."

"Yeah that's the difficult part – she doesn't want them arrested."

"Well if they picket the morgue they'll be no option."

"True."

"OK first step is the google machine."

Gail put 'Purity Crusade' into google. She found that it appeared to be an attempt to re-create a movement that happened in the latter half of the 19th Century. An attempt at 'moral reform and social control' proposing such policies as prohibition of alcohol, all sex outside of marriage prohibited, a complete ban on homosexuality and birth control. Abortion to be made illegal and charged as murder.

"Shit. These people are crazy! Look at this." Gail beckoned Jo over.

"You're right. But it isn't a criminal offence to campaign for a change in the law."

"But look what happened in Vancouver..." Gail clicked through to a page showing local newspaper reports. Abortion clinics had been picketed, as had pharmacists, LGBT venues and others.

"I think you just got the legitimate reason to call CMU and HCU." said Jo.

Gail picked up the phone.

"Community Mobilization Unit? Hi its Detective Gail Peck from 15th Division."

Gail explained what she had learnt. She did the same with the Hate Crimes Unit.

She then rang Holly at the morgue.

"Hi Holly. I don't think you should be alone while this is going on. How secure is the car park at the morgue? I am going to ask for permission to..."

"Gail. Are you serious?"

"Yes. Trust me, your parents are involved with some seriously violent people." Gail received a signal from Jo. "Wait a minute Holly."

"Why don't we go over and do a security assessment." Jo said

"Yeah, thanks Detective." then Gail spoke into the phone again "Detective Rosati and I are coming over."

"OK see you soon." said Holly.

Frank was at the door of the detectives office.

"Just got a call from the HCU about a possible threat to you Gail."

Gail explained what had happened and what she'd found out. Apparently HCU had worked quickly and had come up with even more information. They had come up with specific threat to Holly and by extension Gail.

"I was going to ask permission to carry a weapon off duty anyway sir."

"Well I am now ordering you to do so. How secure is the condo?"

"We're about to go and do a security assessment of the morgue we can do one of the condo afterwards sir." Jo interjected.

"Good, do that. I've called everyone in for a briefing." said Frank and he then left.

Gail and Jo left for the morgue. On the way over Jo received several phone calls from different departments in the Toronto Police keeping her up to speed on developments. This thing was moving fast.

Between calls. Jo turned to a focussed Gail.

"You OK?"

"Ugh it was all going to be so simple. I was going to tell my parents. We were going to tell Holly's somehow and then I was going to propose, even bought the fucking ring."

"Well you can still propose. You can even hold a gun to her head while you do it!" Jo was trying to make light of the situation – it backfired.

"If I need..." Then Gail realised Jo was joking. "Oh! Lamest joke ever detective!"

"Sorry! But you could still propose. With all this stress she's likely to say yes rather quicker."

"Yeah but I just wanted it to be perfect, you know, with wine. Maybe borrow Oliver's cabin..."

"Am I talking to Gail Peck? I see the body and the face but..."

When they got to the morgue they found Holly in her office. Gail couldn't keep the concern from her face. She hugged Holly really tight.

"Holly, this is Detective Jo Rosati. She and I are going to perform an initial security assessment both here and at our condo."

"Is this really necessary. I don't want special treatment." said Holly.

"Yes it is and the only 'special' treatment you're getting is having Gail help with the initial assessment. Oh and having an armed Detective with you when you're off duty the others are having to make do with plain old officers. Other teams have been deployed for similar tasks across the city. We're very pleased to have had a little warning. Vancouver and Edmonton didn't get any. It left several people dead, premisses bombed, we want to avoid that here." replied Jo.

"Which means we need a gun safe installed in our bedroom." said Gail.

"On the way over I rang your boss and explained the situation. We will allocate an officer to be with you all the time while you're on duty. Sorry it can't be Gail but I need her. She's rather good at this detective lark!" added Jo.

Despite herself Gail felt a blush forming.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Rookie Blue does not belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N1 I have done research where I can but it has not always been possible. Where I haven't been able to research I have based the police procedure re close protection on what I have seen in London, without revealing anything like all the techniques. Toronto may be different. Apologies in advance.**_

_**A/N2 ALPR is Automatic Licence Plate Recognition. It is a camera and computer system for finding out which cars have gone passed the camera by using the computer to read the licence plates. It was developed by Cambridge University for the British Police (where it is known as ANPR – the 'N' stands for 'Number').**_

_15th Division briefing room._

After preparing the handout for the briefing Frank went to the briefing room. All of 15 division were there except for Jo and Gail.

Frank began the briefing "We received information this morning of a threat to various communities in this city. There is also a specific threat against Detective Gail Peck and her partner Dr Holly Lee. Some details of the group from whom these threats come are on the handout, there will be more information to come. This investigation is fast moving and fluid.

"Because we will be using ALPR in this investigation I want patrols to pay particular attention to vehicles with obscured or illegal licence plates.

"Officers Swarek and McNally have been called in from post assignment leave. Detective Nash has been called back from assignment. They should become available by tomorrow morning. Detective Steve Peck has been assigned to 15 for the duration. This is Detective Trudeau from the HCU, she will now give the detailed briefing on the threat."

With that Frank handed over to a tall middle aged woman with short blond hair who spoke with a subtle hint of a Quebecois accent. She told the briefing what was known. Why Gail and Holly were under specific threat and about some of the things being done elsewhere to assist. She then handed back to Frank to wrap up.

"Because this group is alleged to have committed crimes in two other Provinces The RCMP is providing assistance. That doesn't mean that we work any less. But given the nature of this threat I am sure you'll all be working as hard as you can anyway. Let's get out there to serve, protect. Everyone comes home tonight, every single one."

After the briefing Oliver walked up to Frank and offered his cabin as a hideout for Gail and Holly. Frank thanked him but said that for now they would remain on duty in Toronto.

_The Morgue._

The security assessment had thrown up one problem. A kidnap opportunity existed at the entrance to the carpark. The problem was that a car had to stop then the driver had to reach out and swipe a smart card for the gate to open. This gave a kidnapper an opportunity to grab the driver's arm. The only immediate solution was to have a petrol car follow Holly into the car park entrance every time. This didn't present a problem as a Police escort was going to be provided to and from crime scenes anyway. The long term solution was to provide gates that worked on ALPR or some remote control basis.

In addition there were blind spots on the CCTV in the car park area. These blind spots were sufficient for a pedestrian to get into the car park unseen. The upside was that an intruder would have to know where the cameras were. Nonetheless Gail and Jo decided to recommend the installation of additional cameras to cover the blindspots and recommended regular patrols of the car park by Morgue security. As a temporary measure the Police would put in cameras from their stores.

Having completed the assessment of the Morgue, Gail and Jo headed to the condo.

"Very impressive." said Jo as they pulled up at the building. "I couldn't afford this area."

"The benefits of having two incomes and one of them from a pathologist!" Gail replied.

Here blind spots on the CCTV were again found but were easier to fix as the firm providing security was contractually obliged to correct any such problems in a day. They sent a team out while Gail and Jo were still there. The car park entrance was much better than at the morgue. It employed a two-stage system. The outer gate was opened by remote control and the inner one by smart card.

Next Gail showed Jo the inside of the condo itself. After Jo had expressed her admiration for the large tastefully decorated rooms she got to work. One of the windows would need a temporary ballistic shield to stop any attempts at shooting either Gail or Holly but the windows were too high to have a bomb tossed at them by hand. Security would be looked at on surrounding buildings to make it difficult for a gunman to get a shot.

"I'm curious" Jo was looking through the books in the bookcase that lined one wall "what do you guys do? I mean you do something, right? That smile on your face every morning is not from coming to work?"

"If you're looking for a lesbian sex manual you wont find one." Gail was getting a little impatient with Jo's apparent obsession with her sex life.

"I mean is it all strap ons?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but we don't even own one."

"Really?"

"OK..." Gail took a deep breath "Sex is not about getting things into me OK?" Gail's voice registered 7 on the Richter scale of exasperation. Another deep breath, " OK: What do you do to yourself when a guy isn't around?" A smile came over Jo's face and Gail continued "We do that and more imaginative things to each other."

"More imaginative?"

"Oh! Go find yourself a girl but leave me and mine alone."

"After seeing your goofy smile every morning I might just do that."

They then left the condo and got into the car. Just as Jo was about to start the engine Gail stopped her.

"Are there any officers watching my condo now?"

"Yeah us.

"Apart from us! That blue Ford has been there with two people in it the whole time we were in the condo."

"OK, No licence plate on the front so it is not registered in Ontario. I'll drive round the block. Be ready to read the back plate and call it in."

Jo started the engine and drove round the block Gail got the reg and called it in. The licence plate was from Edmonton.

"OK call Frank. Ask him to put extra cars on here tonight. And we'll add that number to the ALPR list." said Jo.

Gail got out her phone to call Frank to explain the situation and make the requests.  
When Holly drove back that night with Gail in the passenger seat, her gun ready between her knees, the blue Ford was gone but another car, a Toyota with Ontario plates, was in the same spot with two people in it. Once they got into the condo Gail called in the licence plate. It too was added to the ALPR list.

"You know when this is over we ought to have a girls night here." said Holly after they had eaten. "Invite Traci, Jo, Noelle, Andy and Chloe over and some of my friends."

"Don't invite Jo – she'll be asking stupid questions about lesbian sex all night."

"Couldn't you do what you did with Andy and tell her which digits go where in your favourite move?"

Gail had given this information to Andy and had watched Andy's expression go from excited curiosity to horror as she did so. Somehow Gail didn't think that would work with Jo.

"No, I've got a feeling she'd ask for a practical demonstration."

"I could invite one of my old fuckbuddies and she could get as practical as she likes."

"That might actually shut her up!"

Elsewhere the blue Ford was being tracked to an address on Queen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Rookie Blue does not belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N Thanks for the kind reviews. I really appreciate them.**_ _  
_

_About 2am Outside Holly and Gail's Condo_

The Toyota left and was replaced again by the Ford. This was observed by Andy McNally who called it in.

The Toyota was followed back to the same building on Queen that The Ford had been tracked to. An intelligence package was ordered on the building. In addition it was decided to disrupt the next change of cars. Precisely how hadn't yet been decided but it would happen.

Once the intelligence package had been put together it was discovered that there was a new tenant renting two floors and two parking spaces. The licence plates the new tenant had declared matched the Ford and Toyota. It was decided to apply for surveillance and search warrants. Once these were received ETF and the RCMP found a cooperative tenant who allowed them to drill small holes through adjoining walls so small wide angle cameras and microphones could be inserted.

An hour later the microphones and cameras had picked up more than enough. A raid was organised by ETF with bomb disposal on standby.

The two people in the Ford were disturbed by a knock on their window at 5:30am. They were sound asleep and at first wondered if the had been caught napping by the relief team. It was Sam Swarek at his most charming. Asking for directions while Oliver Shaw crept round the other side of the vehicle with his gun drawn.

Sam now produced his gun and badge. The couple were taken by surprise. The car was searched and illegal guns were found. The couple were transported to 15th division.  
The raid on the building took place at 6:30 am

ETF went into both floors simultaneously. On the upper floor they found 10 people asleep. They were restrained and taken to Police stations across the city for questioning.  
The big prize was on the lower floor.

ETF found bomb making equipment and a meth lab. It seemed that the Purity Crusade weren't so pure about their sources of finance. They also found a man and a woman actively constructing a bomb. They were warned to step away. Wisely they did. They were handcuffed and asked their names. They turned out to be Holly's parents.

Sue Tran was called in to deal with the bomb.

"Mercury tilt switch? So last decade." she was heard to mutter as she made the bomb safe.

At 7am Frank phoned Gale.

"We've picked up the couple in the Ford outside your condo together with 12 other people at an address on Queen. We had to arrest Holly's parents. They were constructing a bomb."

"Thanks I'll let Holly know."

"One other thing your mother wants to meet both you and Holly at the station by eight. Quote: 'Get them here Frank this is not a request.'"

Gail chuckled. "OK we'll be there."

She woke Holly and told her they had to hurry to 15th Division. Holly showered and dressed. Gail was already dressed.

"You not going to shower?"

"I'll do it at the station. I keep a change of clothes in my locker."

"What about breakfast?"

"We can get that at the station. Oh, and until we are certain the threat is over we are keeping up the protection."

They hurried to the car park and got into their car. Gail was still alert for dangers and kept her hand on her gun which was in her handbag.

In the car Gail held the gun between her knees and Holly drove out of the car park.  
When they got to 15th Division they went up to the Staff Sergeants office.

"Well you two had a good time last night. I can still smell it on you Gail, go and get a shower and change your clothes. I'll look after Holly." Gail was amazed at her mother ability to make her feel like she was 14! But she did as she was ordered anyway.

"Do you have any idea how these phones work? Last time I managed to put the whole division on hold!" Elaine asked Holly after Gail had left.

"Wouldn't it be easier to use your mobile?"

"If I could find it. That's the fourth this week."

"Well put a locator app on it. Both Gail and I have them."

Elaine looked at Holly with a serious expression on her face.

"When Gail told me about you I won't deny than I was shocked. And a little resentful. But I like you Holly. You're a good match for Gail. From the reports I've been getting you've had a tough time with your parents. Do they know about you and Gail?"

"No, we have been planning a way to tell them but it is not easy." Holly decided not to press Elaine on 'resentful' at the moment.

"OK they are in the holding cell downstairs. Bill is in the building somewhere. Why don't Gail, you, Bill and I have breakfast together and then you can introduce us to them, I'll have them moved somewhere private. Oh and I think that a kiss like the one you did in front of me will get the message across nicely, should you wish to do that."

Holly's mouth opened but no sound came out. A look that said 'I am not sure what I just heard.' on her face.

"OK it's agreed." said Elaine. _  
_

_At the same time in the women's locker rooms._

Gail had showered and was putting on her clothes when Traci came in.

"Hey Gail, how's it going?"

"There were arrests this morning. But we're not sure it's over yet. It's been hard on Holly."

"Must have been."

"Which is why we're organising a party when it is finally over, female only. We're inviting all our female friends from here, including you. I've ordered Steve to look after Leo. We thought we'd ask Celery too. And some of Holly's friends."

"Good idea."

"Holly's inviting a couple of women whose sexual morals are a little loose so if anyone is curious about lesbian sex they can go for the practical rather than asking us about it. It gets boring!"

"Has anyone asked?"

"Andy and Jo. I put Andy off by describing in great detail my favourite move. Her face went whiter than mine!" Jo however is a different kettle of fish."

"You've got me wondering what you said to Andy! And no, I really don't want to know."

"Yeah, involves three fingers and two orifices."

"Aghhh, I said I didn't want to know Gail! I'll have several possibilities in my head now all of them disgusting!"

"Yeah, but boy is it fun!"

Traci gave her friend a sideways quizzical glance. This was certainly a different, happier Gail Peck from the uptight, hard faced woman she'd been in the academy with.

Andy overheard and turned white again. But there was something else in her reaction too...


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N thanks for the reviews guys. Really appreciated. **_

Gail left the locker rooms feeling more human. Her mother had been right she'd needed the shower.

On the way back to join Holly and her mother she saw Oliver.

"Hi, how's things. I heard about the arrests this morning. Must be hard on Holly."

"Yes it is, I want to take her away somewhere when this is over."

"Hey! Borrow my cabin. There's woods, country, more woods, a lake. Oh and since Diaz fixed the generator we even now have electricity! I'll get Celery to cast a peace spell."

"Sounds perfect. I'll talk to Holly and let you know."

When she got back to Frank's office Bill had joined Elaine.

"Let's leave these two alone for a bit then go and get breakfast together." said Bill and he and Elaine left to sit outside.

"Your mom is amazing." said Holly.

"Yeah? You weren't raised by her."

"True! She's suggested that after breakfast we get my parents into a room and tell them about us. She even suggested we kiss in front of them, 'show, don't tell' or something. Anyway – what do you think?"

Gail had come to recognise when Holly's verbal diarrhoea was covering fear.

"You're scared as hell. Do you really want to do this?"

Holly's face fell. She should have known better than to put on a brave face for Gail.

"Yeah I am. I am really frightened. But you'll be there and it has to be done and... Yes I do want to do this."

"OK Holly but you know they'll be in prison for some time. They can't threaten you any more."

"Yes, but it doesn't stop me being scared."

"Look, you're not alone any more. We face this together!"

With that Holly hugged Gail. She seemed to be holding on for dear life.

Gail pulled back and looked at Holly.

"Come let's get this done."

Holly nodded in reply.

Gail and Holly left Frank's office and went with Elaine and Bill to the canteen.

Once they had finished eating Elaine started to explain her proposal.

"Your parents will be handcuffed to the desk in one of the interrogation rooms. We have to do that, they've been quite violent since their arrests and we think they might be violent to you. What I thought was that we could all enter the room together..."

"I'd like to speak to them alone. The interrogation rooms have one way mirrors, yes?" Holly had interrupted Elaine. Gail immediately grabbed her hand in support.

Elaine nodded. Holly continued: "I'd like the three of you to be behind the mirror. I may ask some or all of you to come and join us at some point. But I want control over this if I'm going to do it please let me do it my way."

Elaine opened her mouth but before she could voice her objection Gail spoke up.

"Of course you should. I came out to my family on my terms and so should you." tears were forming in Gail's eyes as she said these words. Bill nodded, understanding for the first time just how brave the two young women in front of him were.

"Ready?" Asked Elaine and after a nod from Holly she spoke into her radio to ask that Holly's parents be moved.

Once Elaine had confirmation of the move they left the canteen.

Outside the interrogation room Holly waited while the Pecks went into the observation room. She then took a deep breath and entered.

"Holly?" her mother's voice had a touch of hope in it, like she expected her daughter to rescue them.

"Listen carefully to what I have to say. You're not going to find this easy. It is not easy for me either." she paused. Once she was certain she had their full attention she continued "I have fallen in love with someone in this city. I live with her. She's a Police Officer..."

"HER?! What abomination is this?" her father tried to get to her but only succeeded in hurting himself. "ARGGGHHH" then he went into a long quote from the Bible.

Next door Elaine and Bill stood transfixed by the scene in front of them. Gail had taken a step back so they would not see the tears streaming down her face.

Holly left the interrogation room part way through the Bible quote. She went into the observation room and fetched Gail and returned to the interrogation room. Elaine and Bill only became aware of this when they saw Holly and Gail enter the interrogation room together holding hands.

"This is Gail." was all she got out.

"SO THIS IS THE HARRIDAN WHO HAS LEAD YOU INTO SODOM." Mr Lee was interrupted by Holly speaking quietly and calmly.

"She didn't lead me anywhere. If anything I lead her. Gail is beautiful, and incredibly brave..." Holly was again interrupted by Mr Lee.

"WHAT DOES SHE KNOW OF BRAVE. BRAVE IS FOLLOWING THE PATH SET OUT FOR US BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!"

Again Holly's quiet voice calmly took control: "It is from her that I have learned to be brave enough not to run from you like I did in Vancouver. She puts her life on the line every day for the people of this city. How can you sit there and say she is not brave. You're cowardly thugs who hide behind some Bronze age and Iron age book? You've never done a brave thing in your lives." Holly's voice rose with emotion as she said this. Gail slipped her arm around Holly's waist to give support.

Holly turned to Gail: "Let's go get your parents.'

"No need, we're here." Elaine Peck had just walked into the interrogation room.

She continued calmly: "Mr and Mrs Lee you should be very proud of your daughter. She really is quite accomplished. She has had articles published in international journals of science. Most parents would be proud of a child who had done that. The investigating officers will be here shortly to take you for interview. I suggest you be more civil to them than you have been to your own daughter."

With that the four of them left. Gail's arm still around Holly's waist.

After thanking Elaine and Bill, Holly and Gail went to the break room to get some coffee.

"I suppose I should be getting to work." Holly got her phone out of her pocket and rang her boss. After the call she turned to Gail.

"I've been given the rest of the week off. I have been told to stay in the Police Station until the final clear up of the Purity Crusade is finished."

"When that's finished how do you fancy a little time away. Oliver has a cabin he's offered to lend us."

"That does sound good."

"It sounds excellent. Gail you have enough stored leave to sink a battleship. Use some of it." It was Frank. "Oh and Gail, you're not to leave the station until the Purity Crusade has been fully cleared. We need the resources we used protecting you to carry out that task."

It was then that two pieces of news came through. The first was that Mr and Mrs Lee had completed one bomb and the Police didn't know where it was. The second was that Holly had a five year old sister named Ruth. She'd been found in the raid the previous night but no one had known who she was until Mr and Mrs Lee had been interviewed. She was in emergency foster care.

"Ruth? How could I have not known I had a sister. Why didn't they mention it in that letter?" Holly was as close to panic as Gail could remember her being.

"What do you want to do?" Gail knew the best way was to focus on practical steps.  
"I'd like to meet her. But I'm not sure that'd be fair. We have been brought up by essentially different parents."

This left Gail confused: "How?"

"My parents weren't always the Bible thumping, well; terrorists you see now. When I was eighteen and just about to graduate from high school my mom miscarried. It badly affected her. She and my dad tried to find meaning in it. Stupid, cos if you how pregnancy works in detail then it seems like a miracle that any children are born at all. They had been mildly religious, went to church at Easter and Christmas that sort of thing. Mom was a high school chemistry teacher, Dad taught biology. They turned into religious fanatics over a year, my first year studying medicine. They went from following the evidence and concluding that the Earth is about four and a half billion years old to believing it is six thousand years old.

"I carried on with the science I'd been taught by, among others, them! I carried on and qualified as a doctor and became a forensic pathologist in Vancouver. Then one night I got a call from my dad, the coitus interuptus didn't help my mood, he demanded that I talk to him at a church. I told him to fuck off. Next morning the morgue was being picketed. He called again that night to say that if I didn't come talk to him he'd get me killed. I believed him and fled.

"I ended up in Toronto by accident. An old friend from medical school needed an assistant in the morgue here. That was five years ago. I had begun to forget about them until that letter came."

"OK we have to get this down." Gail saw the puzzled look on Holly's face. "It's evidence Holly."

"OK!" and then Holly hugged Gail tight with tears streaming down her face.

Across town Ruth was screeching at the top of her voice "MOMMY, I WANT MY MOMMY!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N1 Thanks for the lovely reviews guys, great to know people are enjoying this story.**_

_**A/N2: Proposals need the right setting don't ya think?**_

After an hour with no let up Ruth suddenly fell fast asleep. She had exhausted herself and was carried up to bed.

At 15th Division Holly and Gail were still confined to the station.

"You know that girls' night we're planning?" asked Holly

"Yes."

"Why don't we invite you're mom along? She's great!"

Gail shook her head in that adorable style she has. "No! She'd be going on at Traci about when they're gonna have kids!"

"OK, point taken. Do you want kids? I mean I am not totally anti the idea and there are multiple ways now..."

"Left field question! Umm yeah I... one day. Do you want us to look after Ruth? Cos I'm open to that."

Holly hugged Gail hard.

"Thought so."

"But kids of our own you're open to that as well." This was clearly important to Holly.

Gail looked at her with kitted eyebrows. "Yeah I'm open to it. I'd like a few more days with just you first though."

"Oliver's cabin?"

"Yeah."

Just then Frank popped his head round the door to tell them they were clear to leave.  
They went and found Oliver and told him they'd like to use the cabin from tonight. He gave them the keys and told them to have a good time.

They went home and packed for the trip, put their luggage in the car. They then drove to the store to stock up with supplies.

The drive over to the cabin was uneventful, as usual they shared the diving.

On the final approach to the cabin the roads were dirt tracks. Holly was driving.

"Glad we bought the Land Rover, an ordinary car wouldn't have been able to do this." She said.

"Yeah, When Oliver came up with Sam, Chris and Dov they used Sam's truck. I think that's why Oliver invited Sam."

When they got to the cabin it was already dark. They got out their torches and the fuel for the generator.

Once the generator was up and running they got the rest of their supplies.

After they had put everything away and had got a fire lit. They started cooking their meal. They always worked together in the kitchen. Tonight they were doing piri piri chicken. The chicken had been in its marinade in the car. So Gail cooked the rice and prepared the salad while Holly fried the chicken.

Much to Gail's amusement Holly used two thermometers. An infra-red one to see when the pan was hot enough and a probe to tell what was going on inside the chicken while it was cooking.

"I've told you about this before, Queen Nerd just cook it till it dries out and starts to char."

"That way the denaturing of the proteins goes too far..."

"Definite Queen Nerd."

"...And the meat goes tough. The problem is that all meat cooking is a combination of two heat dependent processes. The first is denaturing of the protein, the second is melting in water of a specific protein called collagen to make gelatin. The problem is that collagen melts at a higher temperature than protein denatures. And you want as much collagen to melt and as little protein to denature as possible. And you love my scientific explanations. Have you finished Brian Cox's _The Quantum Universe_ yet?"

"How did you know... I should have known better than to hide something from you!"

"'Cos he's written a book on biology and done a TV series on it. We could watch it on Amazon. And there's a lecture he did a couple of Christmas's ago on quantum physics which is on youtube."

Gail had never been interested in science until she met Holly. Now, if truth be told, she couldn't get enough of it.

The ate their meal and washed it down with beer.

After the meal Gail seemed a little nervous.

"Everything all right?" Holly asked.

Gail decided to grasp the nettle.

"Let's go sit on the porch for bit."

When they got there Gail kneeled and grabbed both of Holly's hands so that she was facing her. She looked into Holly's eyes.

"You know, you've made me so happy and I'm so in love with you I can't life without you." tears were streaming down Gail's face as she said this.

"Gail, what's wrong you're worrying me!"

She let go of one hand and reached into a pocket drawing out a small box which she opened revealing a diamond ring.

"Marry Me!"

Holly reached into a pocket of her own and also removed a small box.

"Had to be first eh? Of course I'll marry you!"

They kissed. Tears were streaming down both their faces now. Then they exchanged their boxes and put on the rings.

Both then admired the ring the other had bought. Both were white gold. Holly gave Gail a ring with a central round cut diamond with blue sapphires either side. She thought the sapphires matched Gail's eyes. Gail gave Holly a ring with a single large-ish diamond but what made this ring special was its shape. It looked as though the ring avoided the diamond, one arc of the ring going one side of the diamond and the other arc going the other side. Also in the boxes were chains so they could wear the rings around their necks at work.

"Oh and once we're married I want to be Holly Peck."

"You sure? I'd be delighted, not to mention how pleased my mom would be. But only if you're sure."

"Yes I am sure. Your parents accepted us almost without question, mine never will." Holly's face turned sad and tears formed as she said this.

They sat outside for a bit cuddling together on a wooden swing seat.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

After a while Holly looked up.

"Hey, I'll just get the camera."

"What? It's too dark. You'll only get unfocussed mess." But Holly had already gone.

When she returned with a digital SLR attached to a tripod Gail looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"Just stand here, this might need some experimentation." Holly ordered.

"Jeez nerd!" But Gail complied anyway, because she was physically incapable of not doing what Holly told her to.

"This will take a little patience but if we can pull this off the results will be magical!"

"OK"

Holly set the tripod and got Gail to stand so her left profile faced the camera.

A few minutes later she gave a yelp of triumph!

"Come and see babe. You're a saint!"

Gail looked at the screen at the back of the camera and saw her profile in shadow with a halo around it.

"Weird. How did you do that."

"Look at the moon." Gail did as she was told and Holly continued: "Do you see the faint glow around it?"

"YES! YES! I do" Gail was jumping up and down like a child. "You positioned me so I'd block the moon so that weird halo would appear round my head."

"Got it in one. The halo is actually called a Glory*. It occurs because the light reflected off the Moon diffuses on ice crystals high up in the Earth's atmosphere. They occur around the Sun too but are difficult to see without damaging your eyes by looking at the Sun."

"WOW!"

Gail then took a similar picture of Holly.

A little later Gail said "I want our kids to know this stuff, if they want to be cops, fine but they're going to have other options too."

Holly just hugged Gail tight.

The next morning over breakfast something occurred to Gail.

"Why did you have the ring with you? Were you planning to propose last night as well?"

"No. I put it in my pocket yesterday morning thinking you'd be picking me up from the lab. I was going to propose there by asking you to help with something. I was going to put the ring in a plastic bag at the bottom of a beaker and put in an indicator called thymolphthalein and then put a base solution in whilst stirring. That would have turned the whole solution a dark blue and opaque. I was going to prepare a mild acid solution in another beaker by mixing dry ice with water. Both beakers would have been less than half full. Then when you came I was going to casually ask you to help me by pouring the clear liquid into the dark blue one and bring the beakers over while I was doing something else.

"I was hoping you would have observed the ring and told me. I would then have asked you to use the forceps to remove it. I would then have turned to face you and asked the question."

"Don't do things simply do you? But actually it sounds kinda nice in a weird nerdy way!"

"Glad you like it!"

After another couple of days of what they called their 'engagement honeymoon' they returned to the city both wearing their rings.

They called at Oliver's house to return the keys to the cabin and thank him and Celery.

Gail phoned her mom and asked her to bring her dad to the condo that night as she and Holly had something to tell them. She also rang Steve and Traci to ask them to come as well.  
That evening they cooked the meal for the party together as usual.

Then the entry buzzer went and Gail left to answer it. It was her parents. Early.

"Sorry about this but she was like a cat on a hot tin roof." Bill whispered into his daughter's ear.

"Then we'd better not keep you waiting." Gail whispered back. Then she raised her voice: "Holly my parents are here." then in a normal conversational voice: "Come through to the kitchen."

Elaine went through with Bill. Her first thought was that she'd walked into a chemistry lab by mistake. There was gas bubbling away and thermometers everywhere. She was impressed by the size of the room. It had space for a breakfast bar and table to fit in comfortably.

"Take a seat at the table. Dinner will be about half an hour" said Holly.

The entry buzzer went again. Holly went this time and returned with Steve, Traci and Leo.

Once they had all sat down. Gail spoke:"I asked Holly to marry me while we were away..."

"And since I had planned to ask her when I got back to my lab, I accepted!" Holly interrupted her.

"Congratulations" said Traci.

"Yes congratulations." everyone joined in.

"So do you give rings or what?" asked Traci.

Both women showed off their respective rings.

"There's one more piece of news." said Holly "I want, if you'll accept it, to be Holly Peck after the wedding."

Both Bill's and Elaine's faces lit up.

"Wonderful. Welcome to the family" Elaine got in first as usual, "Now a spring wedding. We'll hire a hall. The chief will probably want to come..."

"MOTHER. Don't you think Holly and Gail should decide this stuff." Steve was annoyed. "Honestly this is why I haven't asked Traci yet."

Traci stored this fact for later.

"Of course Gail and Holly will have a say. Now why don't we make it a double wedding..." Elaine was in full flow.

Gail had poured white wine for everyone except Leo who had to make do with orange juice.

"A toast!" said Elaine, "Holly and Gail."

Just after this a bleeping was heard.

"That'll be the lamb" said Holly as she and Gail went to the stove. Holly removed the meat from the oven and put the roasting tin on the hob. The joint was put on a wooden carving board to rest. Holly set to work to make one of the sources with the meat juices. The other sources had been made earlier and were warming in the microwave.

Gail carved the meat while Holly put the vegetables into dishes so everyone could help themselves.

They put everything onto a trolley and asked their guests to follow them into  
the dining room.

After the main course Holly invited anyone who wanted to see ice cream being made instantly to come to the kitchen. Everyone went through. She and Gail put on safety goggles and gauntlets.

"OK this is half and half cream and sugar which I've mixed until all the sugar dissolved." said Gail.

"And these are the flavours. We can make strawberry, vanilla, chocolate or raspberry. So what would people like?" said Holly.

"And here are the colours. We can do purple vanilla ice cream if you want." said Gail.

Steve and Traci both went for the purple vanilla. Elaine for raspberry coloured raspberry. Leo for blue chocolate. Bill ummed and ahhed for a bit then chose red chocolate. Holly wanted green mint chocolate as did Gail.

Gail set up a row of lab beakers, Holly poured liquid nitrogen into each one.

"This liquid is at -195 degrees Celsius. It will do damage to human tissue hence the protective gear." said Holly.

They poured the prepared cream mixture into each of seven bowls. Holly set up small electric whisks over each bowl that stirred the cream mixture while Gail put the flavours and colours into each bowl.

"Right here comes the dangerous part. We are going to pour the liquid nitrogen onto the mixture to make the ice cream." said Gail.

Starting at opposite ends of the row they picked up the beakers one by one and poured the liquid onto the creamy mixtures while the beaters continued to stir.

"Wow lots of smoke! Is there a fire!" said an excited Leo.

"It's not smoke. It's the liquid nitrogen evaporating into the air." said Gail.

"Is that safe? Should we be wearing breathing apparatus?" asked Steve.

"Honey the air is 75% nitrogen so a little more won't hurt you!" said Traci.

"OK ice cream made. Do you want to eat it here or go back to the dining room?" said Holly.

"That took seconds!" said Traci.

"Cool!" said Leo. They ate it there.

"This ice cream is smoother even than the ones I buy in the shop." said Traci. "Yeah that's because the ice crystals get less time to form and so are smaller." Everyone was looking at Gail after she said this.

"Welcome to nerd-dom!" said Holly. Everyone laughed.

*_This is a real, and quite common, phenomenon if you want to know more and _ _learn about rainbows too look at: __ /watch?v=p9iB2PALVeY (the first 30 minutes are about rainbows. __I might do the rainbow stuff in a later chapter.__)_A


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_Next morning at 15th division_

"...Best ice cream I've ever had."

Gail walked into the women's locker rooms to hear Traci telling this to Noelle.  
Noelle spotted Gail. "Here she is. The woman of the moment. Have you got a ring to show us..."

"Ring? Who's got a ring?" Andy had overheard the last part of what Noelle said.

"Gail got engaged!" said Traci.

"Couldn't keep it quiet and let me tell people huh?" said Gail with a smile.

"Wow who's the unlucky guy and does Holly know?" Jo couldn't resist but after one look at the vengeful thunder on Gail's face added "Just kidding! Who proposed to who?"

"Well I proposed to her while we were at Oliver's cabin. It turned out that she was going to propose to me next time we were in the lab together."

"The lab! Odd place to propose." said Jo.

Gail then explained how Holly was going to propose.

"Ummms" and "Ahhs" all round.

Gail showed off the ring and was greeted with wow!'s all round.

"By the way, Leo thinks your the coolest couple ever! His mom concurs." said Traci.

"Well after that ice cream stunt I am not surprised." said Noelle

"What ice cream stunt?" said Jo.

"Made it instantly with liquid nitrogen." said Traci.

"Made what with liquid nitrogen?" Chloe had just walked into earshot.

"Now that you're all here. Holly and I are having a women only party on Saturday and you're all invited." said Gail.

"Is liquid nitrogen involved? Cos if it is I'm in!" said Noelle.

"I am sure it can be." said Gail as they all got up to leave for the briefing.

"What has liquid nitrogen got to do with anything?" said Chloe as they walked out of the room.

Frank was doing the briefing. When he got to the end he said: "And finally congratulations are due Detective Peck on her engagement to Dr Lee. Sorry Gail, got a call from your father last night mostly about the red chocolate ice cream you two seem to have concocted with liquid nitrogen!"

"Oh so that's what the liquid nitrogen was about.." Chloe was met with a glare from Frank.

"Let's get out there to serve, protect." On the way out of the briefing room Gail spotted Traci.

"Traci, hold up!"

"What can I do for you, engaged lady!"

"Long story but I need to talk to you about child care arrangements."

"Uhh, are you pregnant? Cos I wouldn't put anything past Holly..."

"What? No I am not pregnant! Holly has discovered she's got a sister. You know about her parents right? We're taking her on."

"Oh! Well my child care arrangements are my mom. I guess that's not an option for either of you."

"No it isn't!"

"You could ask Noelle, or maybe child services might be able to advise."

"Yeah. It's just that Leo seems such a well adjusted kid that I thought you must have found someone really good. Which you have."

_Later in the detectives office._

"So this party, any of Holly's friends going to be there?" asked Jo.

"Yes there will be." Gail was going to make Jo work for this.

"OK any other couples?"

"Yes."

"Any single, you know..."

Gail burst out laughing.

"Yes Jo there will be single lesbians. And one or two of them might, if you play your cards considerably better than you have with me, be open to a one night test run with you!"

"That obvious huh?"

"Yep pretty much!"

"I.. I don't even know but you seem considerably happier with Holly than I have with any guy. And that includes Luke 'Dreamboat' Callaghan"

"OK Jo, have you ever looked at a girl and thought, even for a millisecond, 'I want her.'?"

"Urm. Yeah as it happens. I have. But you didn't... before Holly I mean."

"Yeah! I did! Don't tell her, but one of them was Andy!"

"OH! You hid that well."

"Well it was part of the reason why I had my whole 'I hate people' thing. I kept very guarded because I couldn't trust myself. I am having a hard time changing that but Holly's helping, a lot."

Just then the phone rang. Jo answered. "Uh uh! OK one of us will be right there."

"Fancy doing your first solo?" Jo said after she put the phone down.

"Yeah. Where is it?"

"Couple of rookies, LeTrec and Partridge responded to a 911, found a body in the woods. Here's the address. Pathologist on way." There was a glint in Jo's eyes as she said this.  
Gail grabbed her coat and rushed out the door. On the way out she nearly bumped into Frank.

"Sorry!"

"Where Gail off to at the speed of light?" Frank asked Jo.

"Funny pathologists don't usually have that effect on people. She's on her way to her first solo case. But I think the main reason for the hurry was 'pathologist on way'" Jo laughed.

"You certain she's ready for solo?"

"Yeah I am – she's been through a lot these last few weeks. I think she's ready."

"Right so 15 now has two full detectives then."

"If this goes well, which it will, then yeah. Was there anything you came down for sir?"

"I wanted to see Gail but it can wait."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Not unless you know where to get liquid nitrogen. Noelle is really interested in that ice cream..."

"Well we all are! I am looking forward to trying some on Saturday at Gail and Holly's party."

"Party?"

"Women only I'm afraid sir."

"Oh. Yes I see." and with that Frank went back to his office.

On the way out Gail rang Oliver's home and spoke to Celery.

"What are you doing Saturday?"

"Hi Gail. Nothing we can't get out of, why?"

"Not 'we', just you. Holly and I are having an all women party. We'd like you to come."

"Yeah I'll be there. Thanks for the invite. Congratulations by the way. Oliver rang earlier."

"Thanks, got to go! See you Saturday."

When Gail got to the crime scene Holly was already there.

"The rookie gave me the same treatment you did once."

"Did he get the same number of words back?"

"No, not into men so I kept it simple."

"Glad to hear it. What we got?"

"Full grown male. Been here a while. I am going to need to consult with a forensic anthropologist..."

"Forensic etymologist, and test for diatoms?"

"You do listen. I had a feeling you did."

Partidge was looking on with LeTrec.

"Frances, what do you think is going on with the Detective and the Lab rat."

"Weren't you at the briefing this morning? They're engaged."

"Oh! When the Staff Sergeant said 'Dr' I assumed..." The look on LeTrec's face told him to stop digging.

Meanwhile Gail was still talking to Holly.

"Who do you want for the morgue?"

"Excuse me?!"

"I've got to send an officer to the morgue, unfortunately I have work to do. I wondered if you had any preference."

"Oh right. Send LeTrec. I've got a feeling Partridge might be homophobic."

"Right." Gail raised her voice. "LeTrec you're going to the morgue. Partridge you're staying here."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N Thanks so much for the kind reviews. Really pleased to hear that people are enjoying this. **_

The Morgue two hours later

Gail arrived at the morgue to see how the autopsy was going.

"I Estimate post mortem interval four to five years. Full grown female. 25 to 50 years old. Never given birth." Holly was speaking into a dictaphone.

"Reading one of Dr Lee's articles LeTrec? She probably has one in there." Gail said as she entered the room observing the tall, slim, brown-eyed, olive-skinned woman with short, strawberry blond hair reading a forensics journal.

"Yeah had to find something to relieve the boredom!" replied LeTrec.

Well you could ask if she's got an ID yet. But I guess it usually takes a bit longer." said Gail.

"Won't have that till after the weekend. I going to need the forensic anthropologist on this one. And he's in Montreal. Can't get here till Monday. But the good news is we can still have the party Saturday as neither of us will be working. You can't do anything without cause of death and ID right?" said Holly.

"Party?" said LeTrec.

"Yeah women only. No one is allowed to be homophobic. That sort of thing." said Gail.

"Yeah, but we can invite Frances here." said Holly.

"Can I bring Jane, my girlfriend." said Frances.

"Oh you can definitely come! Bring her." said Gail.

"Must be annoying having Partridge with you. Isn't he a bit homophobic?" asked Holly.

"Can be annoying. Had to bite my tongue a few times." said Frances.

"Can anything be done about him?" asked Holly.

"How was he with you this morning at the crime scene before I showed up? You told me you thought he might be homophobic." asked Gail.

"Yes, nothing I could put my finger on until you left though. Gail, promise me you won't kill him?" said Holly.

Two concerned faces looked at Holly.

"Now you're worrying me. But I promise." said Gail

"OK." Holly took a deep breath, "He said he could turn me straight. I pointed out that several scientific studies had shown this to be impossible." said Holly.

Gail's face was thunderous.

"I'll kill him for you!" said Frances.

"No! I have something more painful in mind for Partridge!" Gail was met with a smirk on Holly's face after she said this.

"Do you want me to put a complaint in to get the ball moving?" asked Holly.

"Yes Holly. Frances, any chance of you and Jane turning up early, say 11am? Oh and here's our address." Gail handed Frances a card.

"Hang on I'll ring Jane, she should be free by now." then Frances looked at the card, "Oh! I see we're neighbours! Jane's a market maker at Baker & Lewis."

"Wow. Surprised you're slumming in our neighbourhood." said Gail.

Frances laughed. "Despite the rumours, yours is a very nice neighbourhood and we have a house in the country too."

Frances phoned Jane.

"Hi Jane"

"Yeah, I'm stuck at the morgue! Listen we've been invited to a party tomorrow."

"One of the detectives and her partner, a pathologist. They want us to arrive early because they're going to put in a complaint about that guy I was telling

you about."

"Yeah, he's been homophobic to the pathologist so she's going to put in the complaint."

"Yes the detective is a woman too."

"They live one block away."

"OK, will do, see you later. Love you."

Frances cut the call.

"Jane's very happy with that. She asked if you'd like to come out to the country next weekend."

Gail and Holly glanced at each other and nodded.

"We'd be delighted to." said Holly and then she remembered. "Except we can't. Long story but it'll be Ruth's first weekend with us. Ruth is my five year old -sister. Our parent's..."

"The (Im)Purity Crusade? Yeah I heard about that, didn't know they were your parents though. You have my sympathy." said Frances.

"But maybe in a few weeks when Ruth is a bit settled?" said Gail.

"Good idea." said Frances.

Saturday Morning 11am Holly and Gail's condo.

Holly and Gail were just finishing setting up for the party when the entry buzzer went. It was Frances and Jane.

After introductions and a tour of the condo they sat down at the table with a laptop open.

"I had a chat with my mom about the best way to proceed on this..." said Gail.

"I should explain that Gail's mother is Superintendent Elaine Peck." Holly interrupted her.

"Yeah, I should have explained that. Her view is that it would be best if multiple complaints came in. But not all at once. A few weeks apart. Also Frances she suggests you keep a diary from now on and write down any incidents that occur with time date and location. Who was Partridge's TO?" said Gail

"Officer Shaw." said Frances.

"Good, he's supportive of us. His girlfriend is coming to the party. Lent us his cabin for R & R after a stressful case. " said Gail.

"The Purity Crusade?" asked Frances, after a nod from Holly she continued "I told Jane about your parents, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. It'll be all over the news soon anyway." said Holly.

"Strategy. We'll do Holly's complaint today, put it in on Monday. Then, if it's OK with you Frances we'll put your complaint in in a few weeks. Sorry that means you have to keep working with the creep for a bit." said Gail.

"Yeah fine. I haven't done anything up to now because it would be my word against his." said Frances.

"I said that to mom. She said they'd use a procedure to test the complaint without either of you knowing.* I am afraid I don't know more than that. Have you got any further with working out why you thought he was homophobic before the incident that confirmed it?" asked Gail.

"No I haven't. It's difficult to explain but when you've been out for as long as I have you develop an instinct for homophobes." said Holly.

"I understand. A bit like the instinct cops get for criminals. I've got the form for an official complaint here let's start to fill it in and we can take it in to HQ on Monday. That way we avoid anyone else at 15 knowing about it until they have to." said Gail.

They spent the next hour going through the form. Then Holly signed it and put it in an envelope. Gail then took the envelope and put it in the Land Rover.

"I think we just have time to prepare the party game." said Holly.

They still had half an hour before their guests were due to arrive. While they waited they talked. It turned out Holly and Jane had a few friends in common from the Toronto LGBT scene. Gail resolved to get Holly to show her the scene sometime once they had Ruth settled and had found a baby sitter.

_*I don't know whether this would happen in Toronto but it is sometimes used in the UK where it is called Integrity Testing._


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N1: Thanks once more for the kind reviews, favourites and follows.**_

_**A/N2: A note on how I see Andy: Andy is a straight girl but I think she will turn out to be, to lesbians, the most annoying type of straight girl, curious about the sexual practices of lesbians and asks outright what they are, may even like the theory but definitely not the reality. Incidentally did anyone think Gail was anything other than straight before 4x07? Cos I didn't and my gaydar is usually quite good!**_

_**A/N3 Sorry about the lack of a Friday update, real life got in the way.**_

When the guests started to arrive Holly went to the kitchen and started the food mixers.

With everyone arrived Holly and Gail stood up.

"Welcome everyone!" said Gail

"We have an ice-breaker planned." said Holly.

"We would like each of you to ask us to make you a bowl of ice-cream." said Gail

"Later we may make that ice-cream for you But first we will then divide you into ice-cream related groups. We won't know precisely how this is going to work until we have all the orders. But please don't all order the same thing!" said Holly

"Each of you has been given a sheet with the flavours and colours we are able to provide. Tick one colour and one flavour. If any of you are allergic to cows milk or are lactose intolerant we can make your ice-cream with soya milk." said Gail.

"You're gonna make ice-cream while we wait? How long will that take" said Emma, one of Holly's old fuckbuddies.

"About five minute and I've had the result, it's amazing. My son was talking about it at school all day." said Traci

Everyone handed in their sheets. Gail and Holly Looked at the sheets. "That broke well!" Whispered Holly. Gail nodded. The broke up the party into 3 groups of five.

"We asked 3 of our very good friends to be facilitators for the groups. They are Andy McNally, Traci Nash, and Susan McBride. The facilitator of your group has a list of questions for each of you to answer. They will provide their answers first in each group." said Holly.

"But we thought we should provide our answers before anyone else. So Andy, come and ask." said Gail.

Andy stood up.

"Your names?" They gave them.

"Where were you born?" Gail was born in Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto; Holly was born in the Royal Hospital, Vancouver.

"What did/do you parents do for a living?" Gail's are Police Officers, Holly's were Teachers who are now on terrorism and drug manufacture charges.

"What is your job?" Police Officer and Forensic Pathologist.

Do you play sports and if so which. Gail: "No" and Holly: "Yes, Baseball"

"Have you ever had sex with a woman?" yes and yes (they answered this question in unison with punches in the air)

"Have you ever asked a lesbian what she does for sex and not had sex with her?" Gail: no, Holly yes.

That was the end of the questions for Gail and Holly.

"Here is how the rest of this is going to work When each group finishes we will make the ice-creams for that group. So it is in your interests to finish quickly, but your facilitators know the answers for some of you, anyone caught lying will get a forfeit ice-cream. The flavour will be mustard, ginger and peppermint. The colour will be disgusting." said Holly.

Apart from Andy and Jo shamefacedly admitting what they had asked Gail, the highlight of the answers came from Chloe who it turned out had slept with a woman the night before her wedding.

Traci's team won the race to be served first. Followed by Susan's, with Andy's bringing up the rear. As each team finished they were invited into the kitchen to see their ice-creams being made and to pick any drinks they wanted.

Jo was talking to Susan.

"So your curious about lesbian sex then Jo?" said Susan.

"Ummm. I did ask Gail what they did because since she and Holly have been together she arrives at work with a huge smile on her face every morning. Something she didn't do before."

"Yeah Holly is decidedly good in bed!"

"You're an ex of Holly's?"

"Not really. Do you know what a fuckbuddy is?"

"Errrrmmmm, no."

"Right. It's someone you sleep with occasionally without having a relationship with them."

"Oh! Does Gail know about this?"

"Yeah Gail knows and Holly now only has eyes for her." There was a tinge of regret in Susan's voice.

"Ah. You miss her don't you? I knew you couldn't have sex with someone without emotional involvement!"

"Yeah miss her. But we were never in love. Outside of the bedroom we hardly saw each other. I've seen her more since she took up with Gail than I did before. We're friends now."

"You weren't even friends when you slept together?" Jo was being introduced to a world that was alien to her. She was struggling.

"Good grief no!"

Emma and Andy were having a similar conversation, the only difference was that Susan and Jo would later sleep together.

A few hours later after everyone had gone Holly and Gail relaxed over cups of coffee.

"That seemed to go well, we didn't get the cops sticking together." said Gail

"Yeah. The look on Noelle's face when she realised what some of the questions were!"

"Classic!"

Both women laughed.

"Also I don't think Jo will be asking you any more stupid questions after Susan has given the practical tonight!" said Holly

"Probably not!"

They then decided to have their own 'practical'.

_Next morning_

They were going to meet Ruth for the first time.

"How do you want to do this?" asked Gail

"I thought I'd go and meet her with her foster parents. Alone if you don't mind love, I don't want to overwhelm her. I'll take my laptop, it has pictures of me with mom and dad on it so I'll show her those. Then if it goes well I thought I'd ring you and introduce you to her."

"I'll find a coffee bar nearby."

"Sounds like a plan – I hope she doesn't react too badly. She didn't know she had a sister until a few days ago."

"What about you're engagement ring? Are you going to wear it? She'll probably notice if you do..."

"Yes I am going to. I am not going to hide part of myself from her. And it'll be a good way of introducing you into my conversation with her."

"OK, but be careful. She's been raised by extremist Christian fundies and they have probably taught her that what we do is sinful."

"Then she'll just have to be untaught! I am really not going to let her think I am ashamed of anything, especially not what I have with you."

Gail smiled, Holly had always been upfront about herself. Gail was gradually learning to be.

Like they had for Gail coming out to her parents they had prepped, with Gail playing Ruth. They had been told that Ruth knew about Holly from her parents. They had even told Ruth they were taking her to Toronto to meet Holly!

They drove to the foster home in silence.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

Gail and Holly arrived at the address early.

"You know that grow-op I busted with Oliver, the one where I hurt myself on drain cleaner?"

"Yeah!"

"It's a block that way."

"Well that's the suburbs for you."

"Weird!"

Holly nodded in agreement.

"Do you know who the social worker is on Ruth's case?" asked Gail.

"Yeah her name is Claire McNally..."

"Andy's mom?"

"Is she? I never made the connection. Anyway she's meeting me here."

"Yeah, Andy was raised by her dad. Her mom turned up back in her life in a case a few years ago. I think things are still a bit tense."

"Oh! Have you ever met her?"

"No I haven't. I wouldn't mention that I'm a Police Officer unless she asks though."

"OK but that might be a bit awkward. I want to be honest with Ruth."

"Yes, hadn't thought of that. Tell Ruth but don't emphasise it."

Across town two women were waking up from a night spent together.

At first Susan didn't know where she was. She was waking up in a strange bed. This had never happened before. She had sex in many strange, and some downright peculiar, beds but she'd never woken up in one before.

She looked next to her and saw Jo. She groaned. The sex had been great, especially considering it was supposed to be Jo's first time with another woman. But Susan didn't do this. She didn't wake up next to someone the morning after sex. This was new territory and it felt dangerous.

Jo stirred and Susan tensed. Jo woke looked at Susan and smiled. Susan threw a relieved smile back. The thing Susan was dreading most was that this straight girl would wake up yelling at her to get the fuck out. It had happened to Emma and to Holly but never to Susan. But Jo's smile seemed warm and genuine. Then a thought occurred to Susan: "OMG what if she's in love with me? How do I deal with that?" "Well Holly has found love so why can't I?" came the replay from somewhere else in her brain. This was strange territory for Susan, love was something she'd given up on after her high school crush had rejected her with a string of homophobic expletives.

Jo rose from the bed.

"Morning. Coffee?" she asked. She sounded cheery.

Stranger and stranger.

"Umm. Please."

"Shower's there, loo's next door. Help yourself to gel. There's a spare toothbrush if you want to use it, the pink one's mine."

"Thanks." said Susan who was by now very confused, of all the scenarios the corporate lawyer had imagined for waking up next to someone she'd had sex with, this one she'd overlooked. And the sheer ordinariness was beginning to freak her out. Nevertheless she got up and showered. COLD.

"Want to go somewhere for lunch?" asked Jo after Susan emerged from the shower and dressed.

Susan decided to go with it. "OK why not?"

"Yeah get to know each other a bit better."

"One thing I've got to know."

"Yeah. Anything."

"Are you passing through? 'Cos this is where I live."

"Ummm This is my abode."

"Not what I meant."

"OH, that. Well if last night is anything to go by I'll be staying a long time."

By now Holly was emerging from the Range Rover. The MG only had two seats and they decided to keep their options open should Ruth want to go out to the zoo or anything.

Holly walked up the path to the front door of the house and pushed the doorbell. After she did this she turned and waved at Gail, who had slid into the driver's seat in the Land Rover. Gail waved back and started the Land Rover as Claire answered the door.

While Holly had been walking down the path Gail had looked up a nearby coffee bar on her smartphone. She now dove to it.

Claire welcomed Holly and told her how Ruth was. Apparently she was excited about meeting Holly.

They arrived in the living room together.

Claire did the introductions.

"Ruth, I've got someone to meet you. This is your sister Holly."

"Hello Ruth. Nice to meet you." Holly sank at her knees to meet Ruth at eye level.

"HOLLY!" Ruth ran over and grabbed Holly round the neck.

"Apparently there are pictures of you at your parents' home." A man in the room said.

Ruth pulled back and looked at Holly. She noticed the ring.

"Are you getting married?" she asked.

"Yes."

"What will you be called afterwards?"

"Holly Peck."

"So you're marrying Mr Peck?"

"No, I am marrying Miss Peck."

Ruth looked confused.

"But mommy said that girls only marry boys."

"Well she obviously got that wrong since I'm marrying a girl."

"OK. Did she get the age of the earth wrong too? Mommy said it was 6000 years. Teacher said it was much older."

"Yeah it is much older."

"OK." Ruth was going to think about this, she had other questions too but decided not to ask them now.

"Would you like to meet the girl I'm going to marry?" Holly asked. She looked at Claire who nodded, "I could call her now and she could be here quite quickly."

"YES" was Ruth's excited response.

Gail's phone rang as she was leaving the car. She immediately got back in and drove back to the house.

"She's coming." said Holly.

After five minutes the doorbell went.

"I'll get that. You spend some more time with Ruth." said Claire.

Claire went to the door and opened it.

"Well there is only one 'Peck' I can think of who was the right age and gender. So you must be Gail." she said.

"Oh you've heard of me? Can I come in?" said Gail.

"Yes come in!"

They walked to the living room.

Gail entered, saw the foster parents and thought "Oh My God." They were the couple who had been arguing when Gail and Oliver had found the grow-op.

The man recognised her to.

"Nice to meet you again Officer. Under better circumstances this time." he said.

"You mean she was..." said his wife her hand going to her mouth.

He turned to Claire. "You remember we told you about the argument where the police were called."

"Yes, and Gail was one of the officers who responded?" she replied.

"Yes she was." said the shamefaced wife.

Holly resolved to ask Gail about this later.

Gail asked to speak with Claire privately.

"Congratulations on the wedding." Claire said.

"Yeah... Thanks... I was wandering if it would be all right if we took Ruth to the zoo today. On our own. To get to know her."

"If she's agreeable yes, I don't see why not. This is going much better than I expected." said Claire.

With that they went back into the living room.

"Ruth, would you like to go to the zoo with me and Holly?" asked Gail.

"Yes PLEASE." said Ruth.

Holly wondered whether this was going too well.

They agreed to bring Ruth back by five.

They walked out of the door and got into the Land Rover. Gail drove, Holly got in the back with Ruth.

When they arrived at the zoo Ruth enjoyed all the animals. She was particularly taken with the seals who were being fed, and with the dolphins. She asked a lot of questions which Holly did rather well at answering.

They then sat down for drinks. Holly and Gail had coffee, Ruth had orange.

"So when can I come and live with you?" asked Ruth.

"Well we've got some arrangements to make first. About how you're going to be cared for when we're both working. And we've got to get a bed for you. Things like that. But we hope to have you next weekend." said Holly.

"You live together? But you're not married yet!" said Ruth.

"Yes, lots of couples live together before they get married to get to know each other before making the life long commitment." said Gail.

"Another thing mom got wrong?" asked Ruth.

Gail's heart went out to Ruth, you should be able to rely on what your parents told you. This girl was learning at a very young age that you couldn't.

"Come here." said Gail and hugged the little girl.

After they had finished their drinks they dropped Ruth off at her foster parents.

Gail asked for a private word with Claire.

"We need to make arrangements for someone to look after Ruth while we're at work. I was wondering whether you could suggest anything." said Gail.

"Don't the Police have a crèche?" asked Claire.

"Not that I know of but I'll look into it."

"Let me know how it goes. I've got some alternative suggestions."

"Thanks Claire."

Gail went back to join Holly. The time had gone quickly. They said their goodbyes. Promised to see Ruth soon. As they left the Ruth's foster mother beckoned them to one side.

"Any time either of you want to visit her just call, here's the number. She seems to have taken to both of you well." she said.

"Thanks for everything you've done for her – you've been great. Can't have been easy." said Holly.

"Yeah thanks, and glad to meet under better circumstances!" said Gail.

With that they left to go out to dinner at a little Italian place they could walk to from home.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

_**A/N Thanks so much for the reviews, favourites and follows guys, glad people are enjoying this.**_

Gail woke. Kissed Holly, who groaned and stirred. Gail went to the shower where, just as the water had got warm, Holly joined her.

"How do you always manage to get in the shower just as I've managed to get the water warm?" asked Gail.

"When you understand the laws of physics, in this case the heat equation, you can do most things." replied Holly.

"Nerd!"

"You do know there is a rumour that they had to call in a professor of physics from the Uni to interpret the report you wrote for the Crown Attorney's Office last week, don't you?"

"Really?" Gail laughed so hard she started choking.

They finished their shower, dressed and ate breakfast.

Holly and Gail travelled to the morgue together. The case wasn't going anywhere until they got an ID and given that Holly was confused about the gender of the skeleton (she'd identified it as male at the scene and female in her lab) they were a long way from getting an ID.

"So which is it?" asked Gail when they got to the lab.

"I'm really not sure! The brow ridges and ribcage say male but the pelvis says female. This is either a man with really wide hips or a very butch looking woman. Until the forensic anthropologist gets here I'm in the dark. Sorry." said Holly.

"Any chance we're looking at the head from one person and the body from another?" said Frances.

"No, I don't think so, the skeleton is, remarkably, still articulated, and the diatoms match. This seems to be the scene of death." said Holly.

"How about cause of death?" asked Gail.

"There I may be able to be a little more positive. From the damage to the left number six rib and the right number five rib I am confident that the cause of death was a gunshot wound and that the bullet would have been of medium calibre, say a 8-9mm and would probably have passed through the heart." said Holly.

"Ah madmoiselle 'Olly!" a woman with a lab coat covering her simple but elegant clothes entered the room.

"Excuse me madam, but unless you have official..." Gail was cut off by Holly.

"It's all right Gail she's the forensic anthropologist." Holly turned to the woman. "You'll have to excuse my finacee, she gets protective of crime scenes. Being a detective does that."

"Fiancee? C'est increable! So the free spirit is caged?" said the woman.

"Walked in willingly! Even built the cage."

"Nice! Can one of you please tell me whether the skeleton is male or female?" said Gail

"First let me do the introductions. Detective Gail Peck, Officer Frances LeTrec meet Dr Adelina Bizzet." said Holly.

Adelina kissed Gail on both cheeks much to Gail's displeasure.

"Now can someone tell me the sex?" Gail was getting irritated.

"On ze cause du mort I agree. Ahhh! I see the problem with determining gender." Adelina's eyes narrowed. "In the absence of flesh or clothing it is going to be difficult to determine what this person identified as."

"Identified as?" Gail was puzzled.

"You want the gender to narrow down the search of the missing persons? No?" said Adelina.

"Yes. That would be a help!" said Gail.

"May not be possible. They have characteristics of both but would, given our society, 'ave identified as one or the other. But I can give you occupations they may 'ave 'ad. And a fairly narrow age range." said Adelina.

"So are we talking intersex or transgender?" asked Gail.

"Intersex. Probably not born in Canada or the US or anywhere else with western standards of paediatric care." said Adelina.

"The lack of paediatric care is based on?" asked Gail.

"Not lack, more: different. In the west the standard of care when this person was born was to fit them to the binary male/female system. This person was not fit to that system." said Adelina.

"Fit them how?" asked Gail

"Drugs, surgery." said Adelina.

"Oh. And this skeleton shows no sign of that?" said Gail. "OK let me make a call!"

She rang Jo's mobile.

"Gail! Great party." Jo answered.

"Thanks. I've landed one for my first solo. Vic appears to be intersex." Gail replied.

"What the hell is that?"

"It is an umbrella term for a range of complex medical conditions that render a person neither fully male nor fully female."

"Wow that's going to make identification difficult! Or maybe not. Was this an immigrant from Thailand of European descent? Jo asked.

"Certainly an immigrant. Hold on."

Gail took her phone away from her face.

"Thailand, European Descent, a goer?" she asked.

"Goer?" Adelina was unfamiliar with the term.

"She means is it possible they were from Thailand and of European descent." explained Holly.

"Oui, possible."

"Did you hear that Jo?" Gail was talking into her phone.

"Yeah and who is the sexy sounding Quebecois?"

"Dr Adelina Bizzet, forensic anthropologist from Montreal."

"Keep her there! I am on my way."

"OK?" Gail had doubts about Jo's motives.

"Oh and cause of death?"

"Probably shot. From the side. Bullet probably compromised the heart."

"Compromised? You sound more like a pathologist by the day! See you soon."

"See you."

With that the call ended

"Detective Rosaati is on her way, she'd like you to stay until she gets here."

At the station Jo went to Frank's office.

"Sir, I have a problem." she said.

"Spit it out!" he ordered.

"I am going to have to take over Gail's case. Not because she's been incompetent, far from it. If I'm right it'll need a taskforce involving Guns and Gangs and the HCU and god knows who else. I think they've found Jean Abercombie, sir."

"Phew! That was thought to be a mob hit. Well spotted Gail."

"Yeah thing is this was supposed to be Gail's test solo and I'm going to need her on the task force for this so I can't give her another test till that's finished and that could be months or years."

"I don't see a problem. She's done what a solo detective who comes across a case like this should do. As far as I am concerned test passed! She's a full detective as of now. I'll sort the paperwork."

"Thank you sir!"

With that Jo left Frank's office.

At the morgue Holly and Adelina poured over the skeleton. They found several occupational markers indicating someone who spent most of their time standing, cutting things up. So perhaps food precessing of some kind.

Jo walked in with a smile on her face twenty minutes later. Put a picture down on the table of a male looking Caucasian face with long blond hair.

"Meet Jean Abercombie born May, 21st 1975 Bangkok, Thailand. Emigrated to Canada 1995, reported missing by her employer June, 24th 2008. Worked as a butcher. I worked this case." said Jo.

"Fits. Any DNA on file?" said a relieved Holly.

"Yes, from her hairbrush." said Jo.

"I'll get a comparison done." said Holly.

"How was the case left?" asked Gail.

"No body, no leads, going nowhere." said Jo.

"Until now?" said Adelina.

"Until now!" said Jo and Gail in unison.

"I presume you want in?" said Gail.

"Yeah, sorry Gail. But the good news is I had a word with Frank, you're no longer in training. You're a full detective as of 20 minutes ago." said Jo.

"Am I still on this case?" asked Gail.

"Absolutely. This is going to take more than one detective, a lot more." replied Jo.

"Dr Bizzet, there may be more skeletons. If you haven't got anything urgent on in Montreal I'd be grateful if you stayed. No reflection on you Dr Lee." said Jo.

"Oh believe me, I will be glad to have Dr Bizzet available!" said Holly.

"Right, we are going to start with a survey of the area where the skeleton was found."

"Geophysics? Magnetic resonance, electrical resistance, conductivity, or GPR?" asked Gail.

Everyone except Holly looked at Gail in astonishment.

"I can see why you 'ave this one." Adelina said to Holly.

"We'll ask. Any opinions on which would get better results, Gail?" said Jo..

"Well we probably won't get anything from Electrical Resistance because of the surfeit of organic material in the soil, it being a woody bog. Conductivity is out for the same reason. Can magnetic resonance distinguish between human and animal bone? I doubt it! Ground penetrating radar will tell us where the ground has been disturbed so that is the one I think we need."

"Now you see why they needed that physics professor to interpret the report to the Crown Attorney's Office?" said Jo to Holly.

"Yeah but I also think she's right." said Holly.

"OK GPR it is!"

"But a field walk first I think" said Adelina.

"OK we need a bucket load of rookies!" said Jo.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

Rookies from all over Toronto were called in to 15th Division to help with the field walk. They sat in what was, for most of them, an unfamiliar briefing room. Gail would open the briefing and Jo would close it. Adelina and Holly would provide the substantive information.

Gail started: "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Project Orphan. We are here today to check a possible killing ground for any sign of human remains. A skeleton was found on Friday in woods adjoining Orlando Park. DNA confirmed in the early hours of this morning that the skeleton was that of Joan Abercombie, born May, 21st 1975 Bangkok, Thailand. Emigrated to Canada 1995, reported missing by her employer June, 24th 2008. She worked as a butcher." A hand went up. "Yes?"

"Sorry but this looks like a guy! I did hear you right 'Joan'? " Partridge didn't know it but he'd just walked into a trap, a trap no-one expected him to walk into – the procedure was under way.

"Have you done your LGBT sensitivity training?" asked Gail her blue suddenly gave the appearance of pieces of flint.

"No, I mean that stuff's a joke right?" Partridge kept digging.

"Ms Abercombie suffered from a rare form of a rare condition called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or 'AIS' for short. The form she had meant that some cells in her body responded to testosterone and some did not."

This was too much for Partridge. "But he produced testosterone. So he _was_ a guy?"

Gail turned to look at someone at the back of the room and nodded. The woman was from SIU, she stepped forward.

"Officer Partridge you are to come with me." she said.

"What?"

"Come on!"

Partridge thought about going for his gun until he saw that the two officers either side of him already had their hands already on their guns, as did Gail. He got up quietly and went with the woman. An arrest team outside took his gun. He would later hand in his badge.

Gail continued the briefing like nothing had happened. Holly and Adelina did their technical bits then Jo wound up.

"When you find anything, do _n__o__t_ touch it. Raise a hand and wait for Dr Bizzet, Detective Peck, or Dr Lee to assess it."

A hand went up.

"What will you be doing?"

"The same as you. I don't have Detective Peck's level of expertise in this area. Buses are outside to transport you to the site. Let's go!"

As they left the station Frances turned to Gail and said "Did you plan that?"

"Not really. We didn't think he'd be that stupid but we had resources on hand in case he was."

Holly caught up with them and hugged Gail: "I'm so proud of you!"

Frances's smile said that she concurred.

By the end of the day four more skeletons had been found. Holly, Gail and Adelina would work with recovery teams through the night and a GPR survey had been ordered, it would be conducted the following day and recovery teams were going to be busy all week. In all 30 bodies in various states of decomposition would be found.

Steve rolled up at the scene Thursday evening.

"Congratulations. I gather you found a cemetery!" he said.

"Well technically two kids found it. But I had a role." replied Gail.

"I've been hearing impressive things little sister. Mom is delighted."

"That'll be a first. You sure you've not been talking to her body double."

Steve laughed. "Seriously, she's impressed!"

"90% luck, 10% timing! Mom used to say!"

"Ah but it's what you do with the luck that's important! You knew not to pressure Holly and waited till the final conclusions were in."

"Being her betrothed does that to me!"

"Mom, in fact the whole of the white shirts, are impressed with you both."

"I don't think Holly's impressed with herself. Thinks she should have seen it right away."

"She called in the right expertise to help her. That is what impresses them."

"I've been trying to get her to see that. She doesn't. She's asked me to co-author the paper with Dr. Bizzet. Dr Bizzet, well both of us, are saying we won't write it without her name on it too."

"I hear you're thinking about doing an Anthropology degree by correspondence course."

"Yeah, it seems more relevant to Police work than anything else and Holly thinks I need to study something! Adelina, Dr Bizzet says she'll help. She's been talking to Toronto University about setting up a Forensic Anthropology unit anyway"

"Holly's good for you!"

Gail nodded her eyes turned back to the crime scene.

By Friday night there were still five autopsies outstanding and Ruth was coming for the weekend.

Adelina suggested that since these five were all skeletons she should perform the autopsies. Luke suggested that Gail needed some rest. So both Holly and Gail would be free. A child's bed had been delivered on Thursday evening and installed into the spare bedroom.

All the bodies autopsied so far had been killed the same way. This was a major case. Luke was leading the project and Jo had insisted that he appoint Gail as one of his deputies, Jo herself was the other.

Sam, Andy and Traci were on the task force as were several members of Guns and Gangs including Steve. ETF were on standby to assist.

Luke told Gail to take a press conference on Friday morning, Luke said he had a meeting at HQ. Holly had been there to field questions about the medical side.

"Look Gail and sister Holly on TV!" said Ruth to her foster mom that evening when they watched the news. Elaine ordered two DVDs of the broadcast and watched it with admiration as Gail fielded some probing questions with, what the English would call, a very straight bat. If Luke had set her up to fail it had backfired.

Later that evening Elaine would call unannounced at the condo to give Gail one of the DVDs with a note that said she was very proud of her daughter. This would undo Gail who would cry tears of happiness.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: ****Rookie Blue does not**** belong to me. I am merely borrowing the characters.**

Holly and Gail met Claire McNally outside the house.

"I see you're both involved in the find of all those bodies. To be honest I am surprised to see either of you." said Claire.

"The last few bodies were skeletons so a specialist is dealing with them." said Holly.

"And I was ordered to take a couple of days off and to come back fresh on Monday." said Gail.

"She saw you both on TV yesterday so may have some questions about the case. My advice is to be as honest as you can without giving too many gory details. And if this goes well are you in a position to have her permanently from next weekend?" said Claire.

"Thanks for telling us. Can we talk about permanent arrangements after we see how this weekend goes?" said Holly.

"Of Course. Oh and any luck with child care?" asked Claire.

"Yeah, oddly the Morgue has a Crèche with a school pick up service!" said Holly.

"Good but I hope not too gruesome!" said Claire

When the door opened Ruth came running out to Holly nearly knocking her over.

"Ooooch." exclaimed Holly as she swung the girl in the air.

Ruth's foster mother handed Gail a small suitcase. "Everything you'll need is in there. Nightclothes, change of top and spare jeans, underwear etc. "

"Thanks. And thanks for everything you're doing for her." said Gail.

The woman just smiled back.

They are got into the car and Gail drove them to the condo, Holly got in the back with Ruth. Ruth was quiet when she got out of the car. Suddenly shy. She perked up when they got through the front door though. But it still puzzled both Holly and Gail that she had suddenly become quiet. Gail decided to see if being underground was a problem for her.

"Have you been on the subway in Toronto Ruth?" asked Gail.

"No, Daddy said the subway is closer to hell." said Ruth.

"What about the car park at the place where you were found by the Police?" she asked.

"Not allowed down there – too close to hell." said Ruth.

"Did Daddy say that to you?" asked Gail.

"Yes, Daddy said." said Ruth.

"Rriggghhhht." said Gail.

"What are you thinking?" asked Holly.

Gail got out her phone. "That there is something down in the car park they didn't want her to see." she said as she rang the head of the task force for the Purity Crusade case.

"I'll do this in the bedroom." said Gail who made her way to the bedroom with her phone to her ear.

Holly got out her laptop.

"Have you ever played 'Minecraft' Ruth?" she asked.

"Not allowed computers – evil." said Ruth.

"Well that is something else someone got wrong. Gail and I use computers to help catch bad guys." said Holly.

"Really?" said Ruth.

"Yes – we wouldn't be able to catch bad guys anything like so often without them."

"Oh!"

"Come and watch what I do." said Holly.

When Gail returned Ruth was watching Holly with a look of wonder on her face. This was magical.

"How did it go?" Holly absently enquired.

"OK, they're going to search the car park as soon as they've contacted the building owner." said Gail, then she continued "Minecraft eh? Still can't beat my high scores on real video games then!"

"I think my sister is doing really well." said Ruth.

"She is Ruth, she is for a Nerd!" said Gail.

"Hmmm who's paper needed that physics professor again?" said Holly.

"OK who wants ice cream?" Gail decided on a subject change.

Gail went to the kitchen followed by Holly and Ruth.

"What ice cream would you like?"

"Yellow raspberry!" said Holly.

"Raspberry's red!" said a bemused Ruth who was watching Gail put on a face shield and gauntlets.

"We can make any flavour and colour combination you want." said Gail.

"I am not allowed ice cream it makes my tummy go funny." said Ruth.

"But I'll make it with milk that won't make your tummy go funny." said Gail.

"You're going to make it?" said Ruth.

"With good milk." Gail showed her the carton.

"Oh – Blue chocolate please." said Ruth.

Gail poured the sugar and soya milk into a bowl and started the blender.

"And I'll have black chocolate mint." She says as she pours the two ingredients into a third bowl.

"Now that liquid is extremely cold. It would freeze your hand off instantly." said Holly.

Gail poured the liquid nitrogen into each bowl and then stopped then beaters. She removed the face shield and gauntlets, and then she brought the bowls over to the table.

Ruth ate her ice cream with relish.

Just as they were finishing Gail's phone went. She picked it up and went to the bedroom.

"Why does Gail go to the bedroom when she takes a call?" asked Ruth.

"Well. She doesn't want to disturb the rest of us." said Holly.

Gail came back after five minutes. She smiled at Ruth.

"Eaten all your ice cream up?" Gail asked.

"YES, I like ice cream!" said Ruth.

"Well only eat the ice cream I make for you. The special ice cream that won't make your tummy go funny!" said Gail. She turned to Holly, "Why don't I make dinner while you show Ruth some video games?"

"Good idea."

Gail got out the thermometers she'd once teased Holly for using and got started on a dinner of jacket potatoes, steamed veg, and home made burgers.

After dinner they put Ruth to bed, Gail read her a bedtime story about a scientist who saves the world. Ruth was asleep by the end of it.

Gail turned to Holly as they sat down. "That call earlier was to tell me they found some completed bombs stored in the car park below the building on Queen together with finished crystal meth and other things. No wonder they didn't Ruth to go down there! I know they are your parents Holly but I feel like strangling them for what they did to that girl,"

"I feel the same." said Holly, shaking her head sadly.

"Do you think we should move? Somewhere with a garden for Ruth to play in." said Gail.

"I thought you loved it here."

"I do! I'm just not sure how good it is for Ruth. And if we're going to have children, then we'll need a bigger place anyway."

"Yeah, I suppose."

They went to bed themselves, exhausted, not long after.


End file.
